This post is all about – you guessed it – my tried and true French macaron recipe and troubleshooting! While tasting my way through Paris, France, I became obsessed with the French pastry, learned the craft from a chef at Le Cordon Bleu Paris, and the rest is history! Read on for what to do – and what not to worry about – when baking macarons at home.
To be blatantly honest, I once baked macarons nonstop for the three weeks. Macaron madness, if you will. In all seriousness, my obnoxious obsession developed years ago when I first laid tongue and tooth on them at the original Ladurée patisserie in Paris, France.
The delight of a French macaron
Macarons are delightful, and are often filled with silky, sweet buttercream. The delicate French pastries are lightly crisp on the outside, chewy on the inside and melt like butter in your mouth.
As easy to bake as chocolate chip cookies (well, almost)
And I’m here to tell you crafting French macarons is no different than baking American chocolate chip macarons from scratch. You simply need the proper know how. All of the fuss about how scary, temperamental and touchy macarons are is a bit silly. I believe the problem is excessive over-thinking. Myself included.
What not to do with your macarons
Since there is plenty of “how to make French macarons” out there, here’s my professional opinion of what not to do.
Don’t let your oven deceive you
Macaron Fail #666
In my defense, my oven was lying to me this particular time. If you’re serious about baking anything, however, you need to give your oven a dose of veritaserum. Buy a cheap oven thermometer, and be sure you’re getting to the right temperature.
Keep your toothpicks in check
Macaron fail #999
I once poked at tiny air pockets with a toothpick before baking. And you will find plenty of macaron bloggers and vloggers who recommend this.
It’s NEUROTIC.
Don’t do this.
Take a few batches to refine your piping skills, and save your toothpicks for devils on horseback.
One baking temperature is enough
Many macaron-obsessed bakers follow the Martha Stewart mantra of preheat to 375° F. Then turn down to 325° F when the macarons hit the heat. Then repeat before each batch. Pierre Hermé recommends opening and closing the oven door at key times during baking.
OMG. No to both. Most home ovens would go into shock. Set it at 300° F and rotate the pans halfway through baking. The rest of the time let them be. Seriously.
Bake + learn
The not so secret critical element here is technique. Which if you’re misinformed, can be impossible to harness. After the above pictured fails (and a thousand others not shown), I respectfully demanded my pastry instructor at the CIA (culinary institute, not central intelligence) convey the finer art.
He graciously did. And the five steps that follow are all you need to achieve great macaronage technique. Seriously.
How to make French macarons, seriously
In the spirit of full disclosure, even when you follow all five steps exactly, your collective batch of macarons might not emerge from the oven as you hoped. There are so many factors that can affect macarons. An undetected air bubble here, a hidden clump of almond flour there, or an oven that just won’t hold temperature.
What not to do is to get upset about it, and throw ugly but perfectly edible macarons in the trash (do as I say, not as I do). Do you really think all those Instagrammers out there would post photos of a not-so-perfect-but-still-delicious macaron? Non. They won’t.
So if you decide to try your hand at Parisian macarons, harness patience and perspective. Buy an oven thermometer, a cheap digital scale for accurate measuring, and a small, round pastry tip.
Whatever you do, don’t be discouraged if your first batches don’t bake up perfectly. Because regardless of appearance, they will all taste wonderfully light and deliciously sweet. Seriously.
The (only) five musts for French macarons
#1: Sift.
If you’re making your own almond flour, grind the almonds with the powdered sugar. If you’re using packaged almond flour, a minute or five in the food processor with the powdered sugar won’t hurt, either. It’s also a great way to infuse macaron shells with a punch of citrus.
If you don’t have a food processor, just sift the almond flour and powdered sugar a few times. Discard what’s left in your sifter or sieve after each round.
#2: Whip it, whip it good.
Give the egg whites and granulated sugar a piece of your mind on high speed for around 5 minutes. The meringue answers to you, not the other way around.
Once you can play tilt-a-whirl with the bowl and the meringue stays put, beat one more minute for good measure, and call it peaked. Think shaving cream. Or grab a kid and make them hold the bowl over their head, if the meringue doesn’t slime them, it’s ready!
If your egg whites look lumpy, separated and are weeping, you took it too far. I typically beat the whites a minute or two until they foam, then on high speed for around five minutes.
#3: The floor batter is lava!? Go for a shiny batter that makes ribbons off the spatula
Fold the dry ingredients in a couple rounds into the meringue, folding gently but firmly. Giving it a good stir every few strokes. It should be smooth and shiny, but not runny. This is what the French call macaronage. Just kill me now.
Properly folded batter will settle itself into flat circles within a few seconds of piping. Testing a small drop of batter on a plate is a great way to see what you’ve got.
#4: Pipe concise
In this macaron-obsessed era you can buy specialty silicon baking mats printed with uniform circles. When I first began baking macrons, no such tools existed.
If you’re just starting out and want a little guidance, simply use a dixie cup or similar 1-2-inch round item, and trace evenly-spaced circles on parchment. Don’t forget to put the marked side down on your sheet pan, lest you end up with inked macarons.
Then hold the piping bag vertical and above the lined baking sheet. My pastry instructor, Chef Spiess, instructed “start where you want to finish”. In other words, hold the bag above the pan so the batter fills in around the tip.
Squeeze until you’ve reached your desired size, then stop squeezing, and whip in a small circular motion. This is the one part that takes practice. Plan for the batter to end up all over your sheet tray the first several times. Seriously.
#5: Give ’em a rest.
In full disclosure when I first published this guide, I described in detail how resting macarons is overrated. I still think it is to a degree, but I’ve learned from experience it’s also great insurance.
Drying out the tops of the shells helps them rise when they hit they oven, and maintain a smoother dome shape. Truth be told, however, I often toss a full sheet pan of macarons straight into the oven, and succeed with 95% of the shells. It’s a matter of degrees, pun intended.
See the afterthoughts below for more research on resting. Don’t let any baker pretend they don’t get an ugly mac or two (or five) with every batch. You’ll always get a few that don’t turn out, those are for quality control. Wink, wink. And the only way to make French macarons. 😉
Vanilla French Macaron Recipe + Troubleshooting
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 16-18 minutes
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 20–24 macarons 1x
- Category: Sweets, Recipes
- Method: Whipping!
Description
Thoughts on food coloring
On principle, macarons are literally the only treat I use artificial food coloring in. And in recent years I’ve come to use much less. Artificial colors like Red 40 are not très bien.
I’ve experimented with food-based colors for macarons and they either lose tint in the oven, or require an amount that over-liquifies the batter. If you know a great plant-based food coloring gel that is heat-proof, I’d love to learn about it! Do send me a note at christina@edibletimes.com.
My meringue method
This recipe calls for the French meringue method – simply whipping the egg whites with granulated sugar. Many macaron recipes online call for the Italian meringue method, but I find this one much simpler and even more reliable.
Italian meringue requires drizzling boiling simple syrup into the egg whites while whipping. Essentially more steps, more dirty dishes, and more to master. I’ve never noticed any discernible difference in the results. Chef’s promise.
Ingredients
For Macarons
- 180 g confectioner’s sugar
- 108g almond flour (or blanched, slivered almonds)
- 3 egg whites (90g)
- 45g granulated sugar
- Pinch of cream of tartar
- Food coloring, gel recommended (liquid loosens your batter)
- Flavoring + extracts, i.e. vanilla, lavender, citrus zest, etc.
For Buttercream
- 2 eggs, large
- ¼ cup water
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- 8 oz butter, unsalted, room temperature, cut into small pieces
Instructions
For macarons shells
- Line two baking pans with parchment or silicone baking mats.
- Grind almonds or almond flour with confectioner’s sugar in a food processor. I let it grind while I beat the egg whites.
- Combine the egg whites and granulated sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer with a whisk attachment (or with hand mixer).
- Whip on high speed to a stiff meringue, meringue will be shiny and stick to the bottom if you flip it upside-down.
- Add vanilla extract/beans or vanilla bean paste, and whip a few seconds more.
- Sift the dry ingredients little by little directly into the meringue, folding gently but firmly.
- Fold until it flows like lava, combined, but not over-mixed.
- Transfer to a piping bag (or large plastic bag) fitted with a quarter-inch tip, pushing the bottom of the bag into the tip so it doesn’t leak.
- Pipe onto a silicone baking mat or parchment paper.
- Optional: Let the piped macarons rest on the counter for 30 to 40 minutes, or up to two hours. The shell will turn from shiny and sticky, to smooth and dull. You’ll be able to touch the top without damaging it.
- Bake at 300° F for about 16 minutes, rotating the pan once halfway through baking.
- Cool a few minutes before removing from baking mat or parchment.
- Fill with buttercream and store chilled for 24 hours before serving.
For Buttercream
- In a small saucepan bring sugar and water to a boil, and cook until it reaches 234° F on a candy or meat thermometer. Sans thermometer, it usually on takes a minute or two of boiling to become hot enough).
- While syrup boils, beat eggs in a medium mixing bowl on medium speed. When syrup reaches temperature, slowly drizzle into eggs, avoiding beater or whisk attachment (if using stand mixer). Beat on high until room temperature. Add butter in several additions, and beat until smooth.
- The buttercream may appear broken (curdled), but keep beating and it will smooth out. Add extract or liqueur to taste. Store refrigerated, and bring to room temperature to use leftovers (it may need another beating to smooth out after being refrigerated).
Notes
I dare not add notes to this recipe! For all manner of tips, tricks and troubleshooting, do scroll up!
Keywords: French macarons, French macaron recipe
The so-called resting requirement
Many of the overexposed macaron authorities claim you must rest your piped batter prior to baking. This is absolutely not true. Just ask my pastry instructor, Rudy Speiss (he’s Swiss, so he stays pretty neutral), and see exhibit A.
Exhibit A: Baked immediately.
However, I do find success in resting, as in exhibit B.
Exhibit B: Same batch (moved after baking). Half rested, half not.
C’est la vie!
So in sum I advise thinking of this step as insurance against anything that could be slightly off in your process. Whether your oven is feisty, or your macaronage is a little rough. However, if your meringue is weak and you butcher the folding process, no amount of resting (or tapping for that matter) will save your macarons. Eat them anyway, seriously.
Related Posts
- How not to make French macarons, seriously
- The easiest way to make coffee macarons a little bit (or a lot) Irish
- The best method for macarons bursting with lemon flavor
- How to make strawberry French macarons + more fun flavors
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Interested at first, but not excited by resting macarons. And I don’t blame one sweet bit.
I tried around ten times and it cracks up or it doesn’t develop feet . I am using a gas oven with no only high and low temperature control. Could that be the reason
Hi Suma,
Absolutely, that could be the issue! If you don’t have control over the exact oven temperature, you can’t ensure you baking at the sweet spot of hot enough to create that “rise” for feet, and low enough not to brown them before they dry out. I would get an oven thermometer so you can see what you’re dealing with. Bon chance!
What do I do with failed MACARONS???
Hi Lina… unless they’re burned or completely unpalatable, I usually fill them and eat them anyway (I just don’t serve them to clients for obvious reasons). Or you could let them dry out in the fridge for a day or two, and then crumble them for ice cream topping and the like. Hope this helps the frustration!
When flowing my batter I have almond oil come up, is that normal or am I over mixing?
I meant folding not flowing
Can you tell me why my Macarons raise unevenly? They are cooked nicely, I can remove them from the parchment paper easy, but instead of having lacy foot all around all the steam releases on one side?
Hi, Muna here. I would like to know whether the macarons can be bake at night? Does night’s air affect the macarons?
Hi, Muna! Unless it is extremely humid where you are, the time of day shouldn’t affect baking. If it’s raining or really humid, it would be a good idea to let them rest on the counter after piping (in the driest place in your kitchen)… until you can gently touch the piped cookies and not damage their shape. I’ve found that resting isn’t necessary, but acts as good insurance. Thanks for reading & happy baking!
Hi,
Thanks for your recipe. I have been practicing to do make a perfect macarons. I was able to make it perfectly but since then, my macarons either, no feet, hollow inside. What could be the problem? Is it okey to bake to trays together?
Thanks,
Confused
Hi Cora,
Have you checked the accuracy of your oven? If you’ve achieved feet before, I don’t doubt your macaronage. I’ve found when I use my thinner sheet pans or don’t check my oven, I lose more cookies to bubbles/no feet. It’s perfectly fine to bake two pans at once, just make sure you rotate them halfway through (after the feet have formed). Make sure your oven is staying between 300-310 F, and see if that helps.
Happy baking,
Christina
Hi! What do you do with the extra almond flour? I froze the flour since i read online they become rancid if left in the shelf. But when i took them out again…the feel damp in my fingers. Do ou keep in vacuum bag and then freeze it?
Sorry but just wondering if you bake one tray at a time or two. I have a fan forced oven. Does this make a difference to the temperature or time of cooking. Thank you
Hi Carolyn!
Sorry for my delayed response. I usually lower the temperature for a convection (forced fan) oven between 25-50 degrees. The fan gives the oven heat much more efficiency. The time of cooking may be slightly less, but you will definitely want to lower you temperature to 300 F to start, and even lower – say 275 F – if your cookies brown too quickly. Hope you enjoy & happy baking!
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Hi. Is it okay to rest the batter for more than 30 minutes (about an hour). I plan to rest the first batch for 20 minutes so the 2nd batch will have no choice but to rest while waiting for the 1st batch to be taken out of the oven.
Thanks!
Hi Joy! Absolutely – the longer they rest, the more of a skin the cookies form. You may even get better results from your second batch. I once forget about a resting batch for an hour or two, and they baked beautifully. Happy baking!
Hi there! I like your recipe as it is so easy to understand and my macarons developed nice feet! I had my fan oven at 300C but I dont know why my macarons get a brown top at approximately 8-9 minutes, but it is obviously not cooked yet. I had my tray in the middle of the oven already. Please advise! thanks a lot.
I have the same problem with the brown top. Haven’t found answer to it. We did try putting the cookies on the lower rack and it helped a little. They are still a little brown, but less.
I know this is a bit old, but I hope this helps.
Are you really putting them in at 300C or was that a typo? If you are, that would easily explain why it’s browning before cooking through. If you’re using Celsius you would want to cook them between 149 and 157. If you’re cooking them at 300F, all I can say is get an oven thermometer and make sure that it’s heating accurately.
Hi Vivien!
I just realized I missed this comment, and I apologize!! Do you have the option of not using your convection fan? If not, you may need to turn down your oven temp. I like to think of convection as roughly 50 degrees hotter than a standard oven. Hope this helps & happy baking!
Amazing looking macarons. Resting for at least an hour, for me, just makes them more fool-proof (well, for the most part!)
It’s always an “intriguing” thing when in a large batch, literally just one or two out of a few dozen macarons cracks when the rest are perfect!
Hi you seem to know a lot about macrons and I really need some help. When I last tried to make macarons, they Completely stuck to the paper and I enwded up throwing them out. 🙁 so have you any advice for me for the next time, I’d really appreciate it!
Hi! Were you using true parchment paper, or wax paper? Did you let them cool before trying to remove them from the paper? I take the cookies off as soon as I can stand to touch them. Spritzing a little water onto the hot pan (under the paper or sil-pat) helps them pop off easily. Those are the only two steps I can think of that may cause cookies to stick, otherwise it was most likely a misstep in measuring ingredients. Let me know if you have any other questions!
I’ve tried to make french macarons plenty of times and each time I try, they never seem to form a skin. I’ve followed so many different recipes and only one of them has actually lead me to perfection, but I think I was just lucky because when I tried again, no skin was forming. So I thought it must be me doing something wrong. Any ideas of what could be the problem?
Do you live in a humid climate? Forming a skin depends on a certain level (or lack of) moisture in the batter, and in the room/oven. Have you tried letting the piped cookies rest before baking? Maybe try letting them sit a while – say 45 minutes, and see if that helps. The only other things I can think of are possibly the over-folding your batter, or not whipping your egg whites enough – they should look like shiny, shaving cream. Let me now how you get on! Thanks for stopping by!
I NEVER comment on food blogs/recipes but I am making an exception for this. I want to THANK YOU so much for this recipe. I want to start off by saying that I cannot cook, let alone bake, so it was only under the most spontaneous of conditions today where I thought to myself “maybe I’ll try to make macarons today!” So a quick decision on what flavor (orange creamsicle) led to a quick google search and came to your recipe. I’ve heard a lot (and seen from baker-friends) that macarons can be finicky and very difficult to get right. I decided to follow your instructions word for word (and they were so easy to understand) and whipped up an AMAZING batch on the FIRST try. I was so ecstatic that I made a second batch where I took this base recipe and sifted in some cocoa for chocolate macarons filled with leftover mascarpone-buttercream from the creamsicles. I’m elated with how both turned out and have your recipe and instruction to thank… I cannot wait to play around with more flavors!
I’m so pleased it helped!! Maybe you’ve got a hidden talent… Thanks for reading and hope all your sweet endeavors continue to succeed!
First time making them, & couldn’t wait for 24 hours to taste them (maybe that’s the problem) but the were not light. They were chewy & heavy. HELP! What did we do wrong. I had them at a wedding a couple weeks ago & I’m hooked!
Hi Meo! I’m not sure if the waiting was the problem.. eating them as soon as you make them will give you more of a crisp, but not a cookie that’s heavier. Hmm… I’m wondering if maybe you didn’t beat the egg whites long enough to get a light and airy meringue first? Maybe try whipping the whites a bit longer, and mixing the almond flour/sugar mixture in a little less and more gently. Whipping the whites is what adds air, and makes the cookies nice and light. Also, check your measurements for good measure (pun intended!) and really sift the dry ingredients. Let me know how you get on with them, and if you have any other questions – sorry for the delayed response! Thanks for reading:)
Thanks for the suggestions. We do measure the ingredients on a scale, and we will try the other things mentioned. My friend who visited France & had macarons there said that those cookies were also chewy, but I like the lighter version.
Wonderful recipe! Do you have one for the shiny chocolate ganache above? Mine is always dull in color.
For chocolate macarons, all you need to do for the shells is add cocoa powder to the almond flour, and bake them a little longer. The recipe for the filling can be found here: http://edibletimes.wpengine.com/chocolate-ganache/. Really simple, just chocolate and hot heavy cream. Hope this helps:)!
Amazing! I tried these today – brand new eggs and didn’t let them dry out. I’ve made macaroons once before. This recipe was much better tasting and the piping technique was really easy. The buttercream didn’t work out so well – next time!
Charlotte – I’m sure they tasted great! If by chance your buttercream looked curdled when you started adding the pieces of butter, next time just let it really beat on high for several minutes, and it will smooth out. It’s the nature of adding a fat to a hot simple syrup, but prolonged beating works every time:) Thanks for reading & happy baking!
I think we are kindred spirits. I’ve been making macarons day and night and even at 2 a.m., as the case was last night, for the past week, and I’m failing time after time. The taste is sensational, it’s just the cookies are either cracked, full of air, or like yesterday’s disaster, they’re just more like meringue cookies. After reading your post, while I have another batch of cookies “resting,” I feel like I am not alone, and that was a good feeling.
Thank you for your honesty. I needed it. No more macaron incited tears for me! I’m going to go put the cookies in the oven and see what happens. There’s already air bubbles that I can’t do anything about, and like you said, no amount of tapping will fix it. I’ve tapped the snot out of it.
Anyway, Thanks!
So glad I could offer some sympathy! It was a few years ago when I was learning how to make macarons, but I remember it vividly. And let me tell you, I am always far more successful in a professional kitchen than at home, and I’m convinced it is because of the quality of the ovens. So if they taste good, schmear some buttercream and eat ’em! After enough baking, you’ll eventually recognize the right batter consistency – err on the side of thicker is my recommendation. Maybe one day I’ll get a video up of the best way to fold in the dry ingredients… Until then best of luck, and thanks for reading!
Failed! Batter too runny! Will try again.
My guess would be that the folding in of the almond flour mixture went a little to far. Better to be a little bit on the thick side – it makes piping easier. It really should flow like slow-moving molten lava. I say mix a little, check it out for a few seconds, mix a little, check it out, so on and so on. Good luck with round two – and remember, don’t overthink it!:)
I tried it for the first time. I don’t know what have I done wrong. I knew immediately that my batter was too runny. Wondered if I used the almond flour from the freezer and didn’t not rest the flour back to room temperature first. Or I fold the batter for too long. Or something else! Will try again.
Yes it is the fact that you didn’t let the flour come to room temp & didn’t dry. This happened to me once before and I couldn’t figure it out. I then dried out my flour in the oven before making my macs and it turned out better. I think the flour soaks up the moisture in the freezer and without resting/drying the flour, it results to a liquid batter.
Hi May!
I’m not convinced it was frozen almond flour that did you in, but as a rule of thumb it is always best to have all your ingredients around room temperature (especially the eggs in this case). Hope you have found success, and enjoy the fruits of your labor. Happy baking!
Hi , I made macarons today for the first time, luckily they turned out pretty decent
but the only problem is they arnt shiny and they look more like almond cookies in shape , they have developed feet at the bottom but around the circumference they are absolutely smooth , any idea why this wld have happened.
Hmmm… You may have overmixed the almond flour into the beaten egg whites, or your oven is off (I find that oven temperature is most often to blame). If you don’t have an oven thermometer, try experimenting with a 15 degree temperature difference in both directions (go higher first to get a good rise and “feet”). Also, give the macarons a good rest – say 45 minutes – before baking. I’ve found this usually to be great insurance. And once they’re done cooking, the macarons won’t be shiny coming out of the oven. The tops will be smooth, but matte. Let me know your progress – good luck, and thanks for coming by!
My eldest has been begging to make this. We’re waiting for a day where the high isn’t over 100 to try them!
I found that I needed to let my macarons “rest” until they developed a thin skin too.
It drives me crazy that I have to let them rest sometimes, but there is something about it. To be honest, I think it is the oven in our rental. Happy baking!